Scatterbrain
by Doncamatic
Summary: It had been a long time since she had felt warmly welcomed by anyone. The zombie apocalypse had changed many people, including Nina. But somehow this group were unaffected by this. Or so she thought. (ON HIATUS)


_Scatterbrain_

 _Prologue_

Nina swiftly pushed and pulled out the knife that was embedded in her travelling-partner-of-two-years' skull. She dropped the the bloodied blade to the dust-ridden ground and sunk to her knees. She sighed a long, frustrated sigh and wiped her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand, though that didn't do her much good as her hand was caked in blood.

"You asshole. Why did you have to do this to me?" she barely whispered to the zombie-fied shell of a body that she could once call her friend. Fat, salty tears began streaming down her cheeks. "You knew how hopeless I was. I'm fucking weak and now you've left me here on my own..."

A herd of groaning, drooling zombies broke her out of her thoughts whilst she was crying. She wiped away the tears with her sleeve, scooped up her rucksack and briskly picked up her knife. She managed to give mercy to a few of the zombies, but there were too many to put down with just a singular knife in a short space of time with all of them griping at her.

She decided to leg it.

Nina ran for a few minutes, but after a while her lungs felt as if they'd literally caught on fire- she stopped for a quick breather. She carefully leaned herself against a tree and almost managed to catch her breath when suddenly, more zombies had sprung out of nowhere from behind the trees and bushes.

 _Jesus Christ. Not again._

She ran faster than she ever thought she could. Thank God for adrenaline. She was determined to stay alive, although the negative thoughts were now consuming her at a fast rate.

 _I'm gonna die on my own out here. I'll be ripped apart by Z's before my 30th birthday. Or have I turned 30 already? God, I have no idea how old I am!_

But at that exact moment, when she believed that all hope was lost for her, she spotted an abandoned car out of the corner of her eye.

 _Bingo!_

Nina staggered up to the car with whatever energy she had left. She opened the car door with ease and sighed with relief. Thankfully, the key was still in the ignition. She put her hands together and told God how grateful she was and expressed how guilty she felt for not believing in "him" all these years. She then checked out her appearance in the rear-view mirror. Blood splatters here and there, dirt on her chin and left cheek. She searched the glove compartment for any napkins of some sort. Once she'd cleaned herself up, she turned the keys. After a few attempts, the engine rumbled and shook to life.

Maybe today wasn't so bad after all...

Or perhaps it was.

Nina had been riding in the car for approximately 15 minutes until it began to give up on her.

The car was beginning to slow down.

"No... No, no! NO!"

"SHIT!"

 _ **. . .**_

Nina had been walking- no, _stumbling,_ on foot for a good ten minutes. When she thought that she had run completely out of luck, she caught a glimpse of a fast-moving vehicle in the distance.

 _Holy shit! Is that... living people? Real living people?_

"Hey! Hey, over here!" she shouted out to the truck, not caring if they were some kind of weird group of people that liked to kill living people for fun. Although, death would be a one way ticket to heaven right now. Anything to get away from this Hell on Earth would be just as good as surviving it till the end. Still, she pondered on the positives rather than the negatives: they must have food, water, shelter- _wait._ _Why aren't they stopping?_

 _WHY AREN'T THEY STOPPING?!_

"Hey! HEY! Stop! Please stop!" her breath hitched in her throat. She waved her arms in the air whilst jumping up and down. _Anything_ to get their attention.

But the truck didn't stop for her.

 _So they're those kind of people aren't they. Of course they are. Only care about themselves._

As the truck drew in closer to her, Nina screamed and managed to lunge out of the way in time before she was run over, resulting in her falling to the hard ground with a thump, and tumbling several times in the process.

"Son of a bitch..." she moaned when she steadied herself, laying on her side in the dirt.

The truck halted to a stop and a door opened and out came a woman. She squatted down beside her.

"Hey, are you alright?" she asked, hesitantly placing a hand on Nina's shoulder. "I'm sorry... about that. Our youngest in the group was drivin'. He must've got a bit excited and didn't brake on time."

Nina turned over to look at the woman and analysed her face. African-American. Beautiful, sleek, black hair braided into a side plait. Must've been aged around her mid to late thirties.

"I-I-I'm fine. Boy, am I glad that you aren't a savage." Nina wheezed. Today was definitely not her day.

"Here, let me help you up." The woman outstretched her hand, letting Nina firmly grasp it while hissing in pain from the rough tumble.

"What's yo' name?"

"Nina."

"Nina." the woman nodded to herself, "Well, Nina, are ya headed anywhere?"

"N-Not really. I was travellin' with my friend, but he... he _turned_ recently. He was the one with all the plans. I just went along with it. I don't even know where I am, in all honesty."

Another nod. "You're in South Dakota."

"Oh." that wasn't what Nina meant, nor was it the answer she was looking for. Albeit, she accepted it anyway to be polite, a trait which she thought was long gone.

There was a moment of silence; all that could be heard was the muttering of the group of people sat eagerly inside the truck.

"Sorry, I forgot to say thank you. I haven't needed to use my manners in a long time." Nina perked up.

"No need to apologise." the woman lifted up her hands in emphasis. "Anyway. My name is Warren. Roberta Warren."

"It's a pleasure." Nina tried her best to charm her, believing this would make it more likely that she could be able travel with them.

Warren nodded in agreement. She looked like she was about to say something in response but Nina beat her to it.

"Can I come with you? I-I mean... would it be possible to join you-..."

"Uh, of course it is. I'm sure there's plenty of room for a sixth person." Warren cut her off. She sounded a little unsure, but her tone of voice remained welcoming.

"Come on then, I'll introduce you to everyone." Warren clapped a firm hand on Nina's back and walked her toward the vehicle.

"Everybody, this is Nina," the four people in the truck looked at Nina. There were three men. The first that she caught sight of from the three was a teenager, no older than 19. He must've been the 'youngest in the group' that Warren told her about. The teen leaned out of the window of the drivers seat.

"Ma'am, I am so sorry for almost running you over. I didn't intend to. I'm still trying to get the hang of-"

"S'alright." Nina shrugged, wincing slightly, placing a palm to the back of her neck.

"That there is 10K. And then there's Doc," Warren pointed over to a much older man - 60 years old give or take - whom was sat in the passengers seat next to 10K. Doc flashed a friendly smile and gave Nina a small wave, "And then in the back- Cassandra and Murphy." Warren tapped the window frame of the back of the vehicle.

Cassandra smiled sincerely, but with a hint of hardness- a look that Nina could not describe. However, the man next to her named Murphy didn't even try to look reassuring in anyway. He just nodded and looked away quickly before Nina could say anything along the lines of an affable 'hello'.

Everyone apart from Murphy seemed friendly and she admired that. It had been a long time since she had felt warmly welcomed by anyone. The zombie apocalypse had changed many people, including Nina. But somehow this group were unaffected by this.

Or so she thought.

* * *

 _A/N: This is without a doubt one of the cringiest things I have ever written (not counting all my fanfics from circa 2007-2012). I really doubt I'll continue this, but we'll see!_

 _A/N: 23/08/17 I have edited this chapter. Chapter one should be up soon. Sorry for the wait._


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